The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-08-27
Frank WilkesOn IN N. 7. Times.


Frank Rilkeson IN N. Y. Times.
CAssELToN, DAKOTA, August 8th.-
All intelligent Amer 'an wheat grower
fully comprehend the p 7blem that the de
velopment of the wheat helds of the Punjat
in India presented to their anxious consid
Grafton. They thoroughly realize that they
are engaged in competitive warfare witt
a poorly paid and impoverished people, witt
a bankrupt race that has nothing to lose
Famine only can make life harder for the
men who till Indian wheat fields. Men
who have nothing to lose and who are will
ing to work for wages which scarcely KEEP
them in coarse food, are no mean antago
nists to face in competitive warfare when
their land is almost as fertile as yours, and
they are behind you only in methods OF
cultivation.
The great consuming market for our
surplus breadstuffs is England. The Eng
lish workingfnan is not loudly calling fol-
bread made from high-grade American
wheat. He calls for bread, and he is care
less as to whether it is snowy white or dark
in color. He does not care whether the
-four out of which it is made was from No.
/ hard wheat or No. soft wheat, so long
as the bread is wholesome and cheap. That
is all he asks for, as he, too, is engaged in
competitive warfare, which keeps his wages
low and makes his life hard.
Indian wheat is not high grade wheat,
but il makes wholesome dark bread. 1t is
true that it costs 10 cents per bushel to
clean the Indian wheat preparatory to run
ming it between millstones. The Indian
farmers do not as yet understand the ne
cessity of handling their harvested gram
with care. The grain as it leaves their
hands is dirty and sandy, and mixed with
the seeds of weeds and other grain. But
it is already cheaply grown, and every sue
ceeding harvest year shows an Improvement
in its condition and greater economy IN Its
production. The cost Of transportation
over the railroads of India is greater than
over the American lines, but when the
wheat which is destined for the London
market arrives at the Indian shipping ports
it meets he cheapest transportation IN the
world-that afforded by the British tramp
steamer, AS / said, the Indian wheat Is
cheaply grown, cheaply transported, ex-
cepting on Indian railroads, and every
year the economy of the farm management
and Improvement in the method of growing
and handling the crop increases, and every
wear, if it becomes necessary through the
cheapening of production in this country,
the cost of inland transportation in India
will be reduced. The Indian wheat fields
have been opened to remain in cultivation
as long as the British empire stands.
When the Indian fields were first opened
observant Americans prophesied that the
price of wheat in our markets would stead
ily fall, and fall in almost exact proportion
to the development of tie fields. These
men were publicly denounced as unpatriotic
croakers, as featherless ravens, who loved
to predict disaster. 1t was asserted by many
men of intelligence that the ignorant East
Indian did not understand the cultivation
of wheat, that he could not learn the bust
ness, and that the threat to open the Indian
wheat fields was piece of foolish English
buster. The truth is that there IS not
man on earth, unless he is an idiot, who
has not sufficient intelligence to grow wheat.
The price of wheat has fallen year by year,
lust as the so-called croakers predicted it
would, and to-day wheat is selling in Chi
cago for 60 cents per bushel, and the new
crop of American wheat has hardly begun
to move.
firmly believe that wheat will sell in
Chicago for 80 cents per bushel inside of
the next four years. Holding this belief,
and having personally seen the great south
western wheat field plastered-with mort
cages during the first four years of com
petitiye warfare which threatens to last
forever, and realizing that the end of the
American wheat grower of that region was
close at hand, have, while on this trip,
carefully examined the great northwestern
wheat field, which includes Dakota and
Manitoba. | had read so much about the
region during the seven years last past, and
about the remarkably able management of
the so-called bonanza farms, that was sur
prised to find that the methods of cultiva-
ton, of harvesting and of management gen
orally are inferior to those employed in,
say, Kansas The reputation of the bo-
nanza farmers has been wholly made by the
newspaper correspondents. The advantages
they have over the cultivators Of the south
western fields are, first, a soil and climate
that are more favorable TO the perfect de-
velopment of the wheat plant; second, free
dom from chinch bugs, which insects are
the curse of the southwestern fields; third,
cheaper transportation.
Can the northwestern wheat grower sue
cessfully meet the Indian competition which
annually grows more and more severe?
That is hard question to answer. But
after careful examination into the re-
sources Of the field I answer that believe
he can. Even if the Indian wheat growers
adopt our methods of cultivation and hand
ling the crop, there is figure, which rep
resents the cost of production, below which
they cannot go. And the fact that the
virgin soil of the northwest is the best
wheat land as yet discovered in the world
is undisputed. And I think that the su-
periority of our soil, and the consequent
greater yield of higher grade grain, will
fully offset the lower wages paid to Indian
workmen.
To the figures: Here is tabulated state
ment of the cost of raising 20 acres of
wheat on the George C. Howe farm of
1000 acres, near this town, which is by far
the most intelligently managed of all the
bonanza farms:
Seed ..................... SIS GO
Four days plewing with gang pillow 8 90
One day harvesting and shocking 4 70
Hauling wheat, threshing 16 90
Hauling bundles, threshing ..... "a 90
Fifteen extra hands, threshing :. 30 90
Total for 20 acres............... sos IS
Cost of one acre........... 3 20
If the yield is 20 bushels per acre it
costs 26 cents per bushel IF the yield is
rs bushels per acre the cost per bushel will
be 81 cents. If the yield is 80 bushels
the cost per bushel viii be II cents The
cost of horse feed and wear and tear and all
farm expenses are included in the table of